Victorian Gold Rush History
GRAPHIC BUILDING ANALYSIS – FITZROY TOWN HALL
HISTORY
The Victorian Gold Rush of the mid-late nineteenth heralded in a new era of prosperity and growth in Melbourne. The first suburb in the flourishing city, Fitzroy was declared a municipality in 1858, a town in 1870. and a city in 1878; the Fitzroy Town Hall was built in accordance with the area’s “increasing stature” (MICHAEL O’BRIEN HEART AND SOUL ETC), intended to represent the growth and progress of the city of Fitzroy after residents demanded a substantial municipal office to house the local government. At the same time, municipal buildings and town halls were being constructed around Melbourne, provoking competition between other growing municipal districts such as Bendigo and Geelong. …show more content…
William J. Ellis was commissioned to design the new town hall, constructed in 1873 on Napier St, away from the suburb’s major roads and on a site pre-owned by the city council.
The original Fitzroy Town Hall of Ellis’ design consisted of only the hall wing and clock-tower, taking on a Roman temple form “unique among Victorian town halls” and in alignment with the popular Roman Revival, or Free Classical style of the Victorian period and common among contemporary buildings in Victoria.
A mere fourteen years after construction on this initial section was completed, however, the local Fitzroy government commissioned prominent Australian architect George R. Johnson (who had worked on other municipal projects, though the Fitzroy Town Hall proved to be his largest and most important among them) to renovate and extend the building during the building boom in the 1880s. Between 1887 and 1889, a library, municipal offices, a courthouse, and a police station were added to the Town Hall by Johnson and followed the lead of Ellis’ use of the Free Classical style, which Johnson had employed on many of his other building …show more content…
projects.
STYLE – GENERAL
Whether denoted as an example of the Roman Revival or Free Classical style, the Fitzroy Town Hall – particularly the façade – is undoubtedly classical and inspired by Greco-Roman architecture. The building takes on the Roman temple form, raised on a podium, the steps that lead up to the main portion of the building set into it. The use of this Classical style is important to the function of the town hall as a civic building. The immediate and clear association with Ancient Greece and calls upon the Roman concept of civitas (of civic duty and government) and upon the democratic, citizen-oriented government of Athens, and the immense civic works and life of Rome, from Republic to principate.
EXTERIOR
Since the immense impact made by Palladio, the classical style derived from Greece and Rome has been a benchmark of grandeur and impressiveness in architecture. It is his influence that makes the exterior façade of the Fitzroy Town Hall – complete with sixteen freestanding Corinthian columns and the same number of Corinthian pilasters, with an entablature decorated with victory wreaths and a tympanum bearing the coat of arms of the city of Fitzroy – appear impressive, imposing and undoubtedly grand, the building well-proportioned and sturdy. The seriousness of this exterior implies the seriousness of the government business that it was designed to facilitate, the dignity that the straight lines, rigid form, and skilful decoration lend the building upholding the dignity and impressiveness of the burgeoning city of Fitzroy, a physical representation of the new growth and prosperity of the early days of both the district and of post-Gold Rush Melbourne itself.
This style and influence continues on the sides of the building, decorated with further rows of Corinthian pilasters and windows framed by small Doric columns, painted gold as a further demonstration of the new wealth and grandeur of Fitzroy that the citizens were so eager to show off.
On the exterior of the building, the sole feature that seems remotely out of place is the central clock-tower, reconstructed by George R. Johnson in his renovations; however, it finds itself in harmony with the rest of the building with Corinthian pilasters and a decorative tympanum above the clock. At the time of the town hall’s construction, this tower would have stood out and been a defining feature of the Fitzroy skyline, visible from most places in the area, particularly as historical images show that the building stood relatively alone at the time of its construction. This clock-tower was considered so significant that residents of Fitzroy petitioned against multiple constructions that may have inhibited the view.
INTERIOR
In contrast to the grey stone, serious exterior, the interior spaces of the Fitzroy Town Hall – particularly the main hall – are warm, lavish, and welcoming, the brightly-painted panelled walls producing a sense of excitement in the viewer.
The classical motifs are continued even in this polychromatic, festive space, with green-and-blue Ionic pilasters decorating the space above coffered eaves decorated with floral reliefs and bearing lanterns that flood the floor of the room with light, adding to the extravagance. The room itself is a spectacle, reflecting the prosperity and excitement of the period in which the building was designed, as Melbourne flourished and expanded and became more and more of a cultural and civic hub with the influx of money and people provided by the Gold Rush and continuing settlement; the vivid colours and ornamentation represent and emphasise the pride taken in the city of Fitzroy by its residents and the new
wealth.
Johnson’s library, though less brightly coloured, still floods with light from the large windows, and contains four decorated Corinthian columns, bringing the exterior Greco-Roman theme inside once more, this time symbolic of knowledge and learning instead of specifically civic functions.
FUNCTION
The Fitzroy Town Hall was built to serve as a civic centre for the city. It accommodated local government functions and meetings, providing a far more dignified and appropriate venue for government officials. The main hall or auditoria in particular was used to house more formal or ceremonial events. From its construction, the town hall was available for private hire, and became the centre of local social and civic life, hosting mayor’s balls, public meetings, theatre productions, concerts, and ceremonial functions.
With George R. Johnson’s additions in the late 1880s, the town hall became home to the Fitzroy Public Library, the local court, and the local police station. Today, the building functions as an event hall, available still for private hire (for weddings, business functions, etc.) and containing the police station and public library.
HISTORY
The Victorian Gold Rush of the mid-late nineteenth heralded in a new era of prosperity and growth in Melbourne. The first suburb in the flourishing city, Fitzroy was declared a municipality in 1858, a town in 1870. and a city in 1878; the Fitzroy Town Hall was built in accordance with the area’s “increasing stature” (MICHAEL O’BRIEN HEART AND SOUL ETC), intended to represent the growth and progress of the city of Fitzroy after residents demanded a substantial municipal office to house the local government. At the same time, municipal buildings and town halls were being constructed around Melbourne, provoking competition between other growing municipal districts such as Bendigo and Geelong. …show more content…
William J. Ellis was commissioned to design the new town hall, constructed in 1873 on Napier St, away from the suburb’s major roads and on a site pre-owned by the city council.
The original Fitzroy Town Hall of Ellis’ design consisted of only the hall wing and clock-tower, taking on a Roman temple form “unique among Victorian town halls” and in alignment with the popular Roman Revival, or Free Classical style of the Victorian period and common among contemporary buildings in Victoria.
A mere fourteen years after construction on this initial section was completed, however, the local Fitzroy government commissioned prominent Australian architect George R. Johnson (who had worked on other municipal projects, though the Fitzroy Town Hall proved to be his largest and most important among them) to renovate and extend the building during the building boom in the 1880s. Between 1887 and 1889, a library, municipal offices, a courthouse, and a police station were added to the Town Hall by Johnson and followed the lead of Ellis’ use of the Free Classical style, which Johnson had employed on many of his other building …show more content…
projects.
STYLE – GENERAL
Whether denoted as an example of the Roman Revival or Free Classical style, the Fitzroy Town Hall – particularly the façade – is undoubtedly classical and inspired by Greco-Roman architecture. The building takes on the Roman temple form, raised on a podium, the steps that lead up to the main portion of the building set into it. The use of this Classical style is important to the function of the town hall as a civic building. The immediate and clear association with Ancient Greece and calls upon the Roman concept of civitas (of civic duty and government) and upon the democratic, citizen-oriented government of Athens, and the immense civic works and life of Rome, from Republic to principate.
EXTERIOR
Since the immense impact made by Palladio, the classical style derived from Greece and Rome has been a benchmark of grandeur and impressiveness in architecture. It is his influence that makes the exterior façade of the Fitzroy Town Hall – complete with sixteen freestanding Corinthian columns and the same number of Corinthian pilasters, with an entablature decorated with victory wreaths and a tympanum bearing the coat of arms of the city of Fitzroy – appear impressive, imposing and undoubtedly grand, the building well-proportioned and sturdy. The seriousness of this exterior implies the seriousness of the government business that it was designed to facilitate, the dignity that the straight lines, rigid form, and skilful decoration lend the building upholding the dignity and impressiveness of the burgeoning city of Fitzroy, a physical representation of the new growth and prosperity of the early days of both the district and of post-Gold Rush Melbourne itself.
This style and influence continues on the sides of the building, decorated with further rows of Corinthian pilasters and windows framed by small Doric columns, painted gold as a further demonstration of the new wealth and grandeur of Fitzroy that the citizens were so eager to show off.
On the exterior of the building, the sole feature that seems remotely out of place is the central clock-tower, reconstructed by George R. Johnson in his renovations; however, it finds itself in harmony with the rest of the building with Corinthian pilasters and a decorative tympanum above the clock. At the time of the town hall’s construction, this tower would have stood out and been a defining feature of the Fitzroy skyline, visible from most places in the area, particularly as historical images show that the building stood relatively alone at the time of its construction. This clock-tower was considered so significant that residents of Fitzroy petitioned against multiple constructions that may have inhibited the view.
INTERIOR
In contrast to the grey stone, serious exterior, the interior spaces of the Fitzroy Town Hall – particularly the main hall – are warm, lavish, and welcoming, the brightly-painted panelled walls producing a sense of excitement in the viewer.
The classical motifs are continued even in this polychromatic, festive space, with green-and-blue Ionic pilasters decorating the space above coffered eaves decorated with floral reliefs and bearing lanterns that flood the floor of the room with light, adding to the extravagance. The room itself is a spectacle, reflecting the prosperity and excitement of the period in which the building was designed, as Melbourne flourished and expanded and became more and more of a cultural and civic hub with the influx of money and people provided by the Gold Rush and continuing settlement; the vivid colours and ornamentation represent and emphasise the pride taken in the city of Fitzroy by its residents and the new
wealth.
Johnson’s library, though less brightly coloured, still floods with light from the large windows, and contains four decorated Corinthian columns, bringing the exterior Greco-Roman theme inside once more, this time symbolic of knowledge and learning instead of specifically civic functions.
FUNCTION
The Fitzroy Town Hall was built to serve as a civic centre for the city. It accommodated local government functions and meetings, providing a far more dignified and appropriate venue for government officials. The main hall or auditoria in particular was used to house more formal or ceremonial events. From its construction, the town hall was available for private hire, and became the centre of local social and civic life, hosting mayor’s balls, public meetings, theatre productions, concerts, and ceremonial functions.
With George R. Johnson’s additions in the late 1880s, the town hall became home to the Fitzroy Public Library, the local court, and the local police station. Today, the building functions as an event hall, available still for private hire (for weddings, business functions, etc.) and containing the police station and public library.